Wood Village casino effort hits major roadblock

The effort to build a casino in Wood Village hit a big snag Tuesday morning.

Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown said only one of the two proposed ballot measures related to the casino qualified for the November ballot.

Developers want to build a privately owned casino and resort at the former Multnomah Kennel Club. The proposal would include slot machines and table games.

The casino’s owners would pay 25 percent of their adjusted gross revenue each month to Oregon’s state lottery. The money would go into jobs creation and schools funds.

The measure that didn’t qualify would have created an exception to the state’s constitutional ban on casinos. Backers collected 104,629 valid signatures. To reach the ballot, the measure would have required supporters to collect 110,358 valid signatures.

Just 60.78 percent of the 172,136 signatures collected were accepted for verification. State officials said the signatures included submissions from people who identified themselves as “Satan” and “Moe Szyslak,” the bartender on the TV show "The Simpsons."

Matt Rossman, one of the developers working on the Wood Village proposal, said he and his partners will pursue court action in the matter.

Rossman and business partner Bruce Studer take issue with the way the Oregon Secretary of State’s office counted the signatures. The signature-collection firm Democracy Resources told the pair that Kate Brown’s office made errors during the counting process.

“For Bruce and I as co-petitioners, our phones are ringing off the hook with people encouraging us to challenge the decision,” Rossman said. “We turned in more than enough signatures to cover any validity rate. We need to have this decision overturned to make sure that Oregonians’ rights (to seek ballot) initiatives are protected.”

The measure that qualified would allow the construction of the casino in Wood Village. The petition required 82,769 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. Of the 132,389 signatures accepted for verification, 62.59 percent, or 82,865, were determined to be valid.

The split leaves open the question of the project’s next steps. Because the constitutional exception vote won’t take place this November, supporters would need to rely on other options to ensure that the facility earns state approval.

Lawmakers could vote during Oregon’s next legislative session to put the matter on the 2011 state ballot. Or the developers could try to again push the matter to a public vote, perhaps in 2012, the next time a citizens’ initiative can go on the ballot.

Either way, the announcement, by Oregon’s secretary of state, means any possible construction start dates won’t happen for at least a year.

Rossman and Studer had projected the facility would generate $500 million in yearly revenue.

Oregon allows Native American tribes to own and operate casinos. The groups must steer much of their revenue to community programs that aid tribe members.